“Colorful, intriguing, dangerous,” is how Danny Pino (Mayans M.C., Law & Order: SVU) describes the world of Roman Compte, the real-life Cuban exile and general manager of Miami’s Mutiny Hotel and its glitzy nightclub, ground zero for the disco era’s cocaine scene.
In the fictionalized eight-part drama, Hotel Cocaine, created by Chris Brancato (Godfather of Harlem), DEA agent Zulio (Michael Chiklis) pressures Compte to rat on his drug kingpin brother Nestor Cabal (Yul Vazquez) by threatening to disrupt the life of Roman’s teenage daughter Valeria (Corina Bradley). Pino gives us a room key.
Carlos Rodriguez/MGM+
How is this role different from others you’ve played?
Danny Pino: It’s different from the precinct in Manhattan investigating sex crimes [on SVU]. Roman is in the Studio 54 of the Caribbean. And he was an actual person. There’s pressure to get it right. I’m playing the father of Maurice Compte, a fellow actor on Mayans M.C. We spent time talking about who his father was. Roman had compartmentalized two lives: nightclub manager and father. He would come home at five in the morning, get into bed with Maurice, and hold him right before he’d wake up to go to school.
Is Roman and Nestor’s relationship volatile?
It works on different levels of loyalty, trust, love, and betrayal. [As Roman, I am] trying to protect my brother, in spite of himself. The brothers’ relationship onscreen is very similar to Yul and I in real life.
Related‘Hotel Cocaine’ First Look: Danny Pino Runs Miami’s Infamous Mutiny Hotel
You reunite with Michael Chiklis, whom you worked with on The Shield in 2003.
That we get another chance to work together and create these two characters who are at odds, but on the same team sometimes, is a gift.
Are many gunfights coming up?
Our show pays homage to [disco] subculture but raises the question of what the cost was of keeping that party going. There’s hedonism and brutality.
What helped you step into Roman’s shoes?
Putting on the polyester prints with oversized collars, the gold medallion, flared pants. You walk different wearing platform heels.
Hotel Cocaine, Series Premiere Sunday, June 16, 9/8c, MGM+
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